RS

MEMBER DIARY

Poll: Blue states don’t buy American cars

In seven states, imports are the top five vehicles. All seven went for Obama in 2008: California, New York, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island.

And note also that, with the exception of Florida, those are all quite deep blue states, not swing states.

In a sense this is really not all that surprising, any more than the other observations that red state preferences swing heavily towards trucks and SUVs, or that the ultimate automotive expression of progressivism, the Toyota Prius, is big on the left coast.

And I am emphatically not saying that the blue states’ buying preferences make them any less patriotic than their red state counterparts. There are far stronger examples to support that contention anyway.

But what I would like to note is the message the UAW ought to be taking away from this: your customers vote Republican. Obviously this is a massive generalization; the UAW does have some stake in Toyota, Nissan and other foreign automakers with operations in the US. But their influence with them is nowhere near what it is with Detroit’s Big Three, where, on a plant tour, one could easily be excused for wondering if the company’s name is “Ford Motor Company” or “UAW Inc.”.

But the point remains that people you, dear unions, support politically do not, as a rule, support you back with their buying habits. This partially explains why, for example, the Chevy Volt has thus far been a colossal flop.

Just something to keep in mind the next time the call goes out to make complete jackasses of yourselves in some state capital.